Guilty Until Proven Innocent

by L S Barron

  Within twenty minutes the sound of two helicopters flew over Becca’s head. She guessed that they were probably CIA helicopters on their way to the GPS chip that she had left. “They’ll be disappointed at the small stack of money, if it’s still there,” she thought. Somehow they missed out on a big payday. She had seen what a large amount of money had looked like and this was not it. She remembered the money at the Guatemala site, “now that was a lot of money. Oh well, not my problem anyway,” she thought as she wondered why the CIA were involved with the drug cartels to begin with?

  To Becca’s surprise there had been no one chasing her through the forest. She made it out of the lower forest and into the highlands with no problems. The sun was coming up over the horizon as she could see the area where Humberto’s farm was located. She looked back and could still see smoke from her handy work. In the distance she spotted a helicopter heading back south from smoky clouds. It was a small black helicopter, she guessed a MH-6 helicopter. “Definitely CIA,” she thought as she ducked behind heavier brush, just incase. She didn’t want to be seen by the Shining Path or the CIA for that matter. She just wanted to make it back to Humberto’s.

  The highlands were not as densely forested as the lower valley, but there were many more populated areas to avoid. Becca would dive in and out of the local Coca farms, keeping off the roads. She could still find remnants of old fruit orchards, but most had been replaced by the Coca plant. She thought of Humberto being forced to farm a crop that he didn’t really want to and wondered if these others farmers were in the same situation. Most the farms were old and there was no sign of a lot of money, she figured they weren’t the ones getting rich off this crop. Finally, she reached the driveway of Humberto’s farm and with welcome relief was met by Ciro running up the road towards her, barking away with his tail wagging the whole time. Forgetting all about last night for a moment, she wondered “That dog wags his tail so wildly it wags his whole butt, so how does he run at the same time?”

  Glad to be Home

  Becca had made it home from Peru with no problems. Humberto put Becca on a bus to Guayaquil Ecuador, being the least suspect way out of the area. There would be a Southern Air Transport plane awaiting her arrival. She was hoping Jack was the pilot, but it was two pilots she hadn’t met yet. There was no one in the private plane, just her and the pilots. Becca felt a little distant from the world. She thought to herself as she dozed off “No one will ever know the good I’ve done and no one will ever know of my innocence.”

  Finally Becca was back home, back at the concrete compound. She was ready for a barbeque like she had last time, but there was no barbeque, no welcome home. Then she realized that the last barbeque wasn’t actually for her, but that it was for Johnny. It meant that they knew Johnny was going on a extremely high risk mission and that the barbeque was his goodbye meal. “That sucks,” she thought as she threw her pack in her room. It was late and even though she had slept on the plane some she was still tired, so she got cleaned up and climbed into bed, finally feeling safe and at home.

  She arose the next day, refreshed and ready to go. She headed out to the kitchen to find Kai cooking up breakfast as usual. “Hey, good to see you’re back. Heard you put on quite the fireworks show,” he said as he laughed a little. “Wow, was that an actual smile from Kai,” she thought as she said “Ya, it was kind of fun.” Kai handed her a plate full of a great looking breakfast and set down a cup of coffee at her usual place at the table. “Thanks man, it’s so good to be back just to get this breakfast. Like a fine restaurant,” she told Kai with a smile on her face.

  Pretty soon Scott wandered into the dining room still half asleep. Becca was sitting there just smiling at him when he finally looked up and said “Oh, you’re back. It’s good to have you back.” Shortly after that the two new guys, James and Levi came in to join everyone at the table. Becca hadn’t really got to know them yet, but they seemed to be up on her. “We heard about your mission. Sounds like it was, well, like it was explosive,” James said with a big smile. Becca looked up from her breakfast and said “Yes it was.” Levi went on to tell Becca that Officer Randale had kept them all updated on her mission. “Where is Officer Randale?” Becca asked, thinking he should have been there to welcome her home. “He got called in for another meeting. Evidently there is already another mission coming down the pipe.” Levi said. “He is supposed to be back this afternoon. Who do you think will go? “ he said with a nervous voice.

  They spent the rest of breakfast talking about what the next mission might be. Becca thought the guys were being a little crazy with their conversation as to where and what the mission would be. James guessed the next mission would be in Egypt because the aliens had taken over Giza. Scott being the tech nerd, came up with the idea that nanorobots had taken over Washington D.C.. Their conversation could have been turned into a sci-fi movie with the crazy ideas they were coming up with, but they were enjoying it. So they all sat around laughing and joking as they all came up with the most ridiculous ideas.

  Obviously after listening to some of the conversation, Officer Brady walked into the dining room and being the ex navy seal that he was, said “If you’re going to be stupid, then you better be good at it. Come on, lets get to it.” So on that note, we all got up, cleaned up the kitchen, and then went out to the courtyard for our assigned training.

  Becca again was to work with Officer Brady on her marksmanship. She told him “I should work on something else. If I’m good at sneaking around then I don’t have to shoot anybody.” He just laughed and said “Goodluck with that. You know that someday you will have to put your talent to use.” Becca thought “Talent at marksmanship? I thought my talent was blowing stuff up!”, but she smiled as she felt complimented by Brady’s comment.

  As they trained throughout the morning, Officer Brady, being the demolitions guy, wanted to know all about the mission in Peru. Becca told him all the details that dealt with any of the explosives and of the wondrous sight that was created by the aluminothermic explosion. Officer Brady seemed so enthralled at every detail of the mission that Becca told him “You should have been there, you would have loved it.” Officer Brady nodded his head yes and said “I wish I could have seen it all. It amazes me that you were able to sneak around and set all the explosives without ever being seen. We should call you SAAS, you know for stealthy as a shadow.” Becca laughed “no you should call me the Brilliant Explosive Clandestine Clearing Apparition.” She told Officer Brady “Use that acronym for that for my nickname.” With a smirk on her face, she then turned and started walking away as she asked him if she could get some lunch. He nodded yes and Becca could see that he was still trying to figure out what she had just told him. As she walked away she finally heard him laughing in the background. “Oh, I see, BECCA!”

  It was a little after noon when Becca wandered into the kitchen. The guys were all standing around the refrigerator with the door open, trying to find something to eat. Becca just laughed and reached in around them for the lunchmeat and mayo. She made herself a sandwich as they all watched. “If you’re waiting for me to make you a sandwich, you’re gonna get pretty hungry.” They all groaned and mumbled some expletives, but went on about making their own lunch. Kai would have generally made them lunch, but he was actually back to training now. Becca was glad to see that, even if it did mean cooking for themselves now. The word at lunch was that Officer Randale just got back and was in his office. Becca thought, just like all the guys were thinking, “I wonder who will go next and where?” She just got back so she figured she could cross herself off the list.

  After lunch, Becca hit the weight room with James and Levi. Kai was working with Scott on some new computer program called Windows, but Becca wasn’t really up on all that techno stuff and didn’t care much either. James and Levi were doing their normal joking around while Becca just listened and did her workout. About then, Officer Brady showed up “Becca, you’re wanted in Officer Randale’s office.” “Finally,” Be
cca thought, “Jack is finally going to thank me for the last mission I completed.”

  Officer Brady escorted Becca to Officer Randale’s office. He was sitting at his desk and didn’t look very happy. Becca was trying to think about what she may have done wrong on her last mission, but she couldn’t come up with anything too bad, not to cause that grumpy looking face anyway. Officer Brady left the office and as he closed the door behind him, Jack got up from his desk and walked around to Becca. He smiled, put his hands on her shoulders and said “Good job little miss.” Finally, Becca had gotten what she had been waiting for, just a little bit of praise from Jack. He motioned for her to sit down and walked back around to his chair behind the desk. “You put on quite a show, I heard” he said smiling with his usual smirk. Becca replied “Thanks, I missed you on the trip back.” Jack went on to explain that he didn’t make it on the last flight home because of meetings at the CIA headquarters. “There is a lot of activity going on right now, and they want us for the high risk ops, as usual.” Jack said with a more serious look. Becca just nodded knowing now that there was something more going on than just a congratulations on a job well done.

  Jack told Becca that the higher ups wanted her again for another mission. “They think a women will once again go unnoticed and they need a woman who is a good shot with a rifle. That would be you. Sorry, but you’re up again,” he said with an apologetic voice. Becca answered “It’s okay, you know I enjoy my time out and about, especially running through the jungle and blowing shit up.” She actually wasn’t ready to go out yet and in fact she enjoyed her time with the guys, but she didn’t want Jack to feel bad. “Well,” he said “This isn’t exactly a blowing shit up kind of mission and there isn’t any jungle to run through.” Now he had her interest.

  He had the yellow mission envelope, that Becca had become familiar with in his hand. This was different however, she usually didn’t get to know ahead of time what the mission was. “Go ahead,” read it he said. So she opened the envelope and started to read the mission information. It was titled Haiti Directive. Becca knew nothing of Haiti, except for what little she had seen on the news about the politics and the chaos it was causing there. She went on to read the details of the mission.

  The mission would start in Norfolk Virginia, where Becca would catch a ride on the USS South Carolina cruiser, along with Jack. The cruiser was scheduled to do some law enforcement operations along side the Coast Guard out of Guantanamo Bay starting in March, basically a week away. They would drop her off the port of Port-Au-Prince Haiti when dropping off supplies. As a cover for her, she would be a nurse helping with the humanitarian relief effort of a charity organization called AmeriShares.

  Becca continued to read on about the information on a priest from a poor neighborhood in Haiti. Basically, in summary of the history given by the CIA, the people want this man to run for president in what would be the first open vote by the people. However, bottom line was that the CIA didn’t want this man to be president for fear of loss of control. Becca wondered “Why the heck does the CIA want control in Haiti?” and she also thought “This man is a priest that the people seem to like and the Haitian military dislikes. Good for him.” However, Becca then read the mission goal “to ensure that this man would not run for presidency.”

  She knew what this meant. She threw down the mission papers on Jack desk and angrily said “No way, I’m not going to just outright kill someone. The CIA can kiss my you know what!” Jack looked up at Becca and sternly told her to sit back down. “You don’t have a say in the missions that come down. You signed up for this and this is the job.” Becca angrily replied “I don’t have a problem killing someone when it is either them or me and I don’t have a problem taking out a group that is maliciously killing innocent people, but I will not assassinate a priest whom the CIA just happens not to like.” Jack replied “Oh, but you had no problem killing an innocent women and her child?” Becca was stunned at the comment and trying not to show any tears, so she just shook her head no in disgust and sat back down without saying a word. Jack handed her the envelope back and said we will leave in the morning for Norfolk.

  Becca didn’t say another word the entire day. She spent the rest of the day in her room to sort out her thoughts. She was so angry at the entire situation. Her emotions of Jenna and the unjust trial began to stir once again. She found herself getting more and more angry, so she stopped to say a short prayer for help. Becca wondered if God was really listening and why he would allow this, but still somehow she found that talking to him helped give her peace of mind. After calming down, Becca decided she would go on the mission and just see what would come of it. She thought “I will just have to believe that I will be guided to do the right thing.” She went on to reason that she would just see what shakes out.

  The guys all stopped by Becca’s room to wish her luck. They kept it simple knowing that she was pretty angry about the whole deal, but Becca was glad just to see their support. She packed the AmeriShares clothes and I.D. that came along with the mission packet. The packet also explained that her necessary equipment and weapons would be taken care of by Officer Randale. She knew that meant her SR-25 rifle. That is what she was the best shot with. She laughed and thought about all the guns she carried around on her last mission and never even got to pull the trigger once. Becca knew though that now she would have to pull the trigger, just once.

  On the plane ride to Norfolk, Becca reviewed all of the information in the mission packet. She still felt disgusted at the whole thing, but readied herself anyway. After going over everything several times, she finally put the packet away and sat there looking out the window. She was trying to find something peaceful to think about when Jack came out of the cockpit and walked towards her. “So much for a peaceful thought,” she mumbled. Jack set down next to her and asked “Are you up on all your info. Do you have the right mindset that you need?” “Ya, no problem,” Becca answered without even a glance up at Jack. “Ah, you’re still mad I see. You know it’s just our job, right?” replied Jack. Becca replied with an abrupt “Sure” but she realized that it wasn’t necessarily Jack she was mad at, but the fact that he may never know the truth about her own innocence.

  They arrived in Virginia and headed straight to the Naval Station Norfolk. Jack had left Becca alone for the rest of the trip, knowing nothing he said was going to make any difference right now anyway. Becca was trying to look forward now to her mission. As they pulled into the naval base she was anxious about being on a cruiser. She thought to herself, as she could see the large fleet of ships, “Oh boy, hope I don’t get sea sick.”

  Becca and Jack were escorted on board the cruiser by several navy men. Jack knew a couple of the men and they seemed to be familiar with the procedures. Becca guessed that Jack had done this before. She wondered how many missions the ship crew had done with the Program and Jack. They were escorted to the ship’s brig where Becca was shown into a cell. “Of course,” she thought “I might jump overboard and escape. Oh, yeah and cut my GPS tracker out of my neck while I’m at it.” Jack looked at Becca as if he knew what was going through her mind and said “It’s just the Navy’s policy. It is actually a comfortable cot and they’ll serve you some pretty good food.” Becca was still mad at Jack and didn’t want to give him the gratification of a smile so she just shrugged her shoulders, threw her bag on the floor and sat down on the cot.

  Becca missed the comfort of the private plane. “This boat thing isn’t for me,” she thought as she felt the motion the entire time which made her a little nauseous. It also bothered her that it took several more days of travelling. Jack came by each day to escort Becca out of the ship’s brig for some exercise. Even though she was talking to him again, she was doing it with a guarded attitude and he knew it.

  Finally, Jack came with the news that she should get ready, they were almost in Port-au-Prince. “Make sure you put you AmeriShares uniform on, along with your ID tag. You will find your rifle in the medical vaccin
ation case,” he said as he also gave her a bundle of money to use for her expenses. Becca did as instructed and was ready to go. She wanted so badly to get off this ship that she almost forgot why she was there, but that thought would come back soon enough.

  AmeriShares was at the port loading up several vans with the delivered supplies. Becca said goodbye to Jack who in return said his usual goodluck. It was that smirky smile that made Becca smile back. “Dang him, anyway,” she thought as she was shown to the back seat of one of the vans. Now the main thought in Becca’s mind was “How in world do I get this mission to fail, without making it obvious?”

  Mission Failure

  The AmeriShares vans got to bypass customs. Becca didn’t know why, if it was because somebody was paid off or if it was because of the charity’s cause? It didn’t really matter, except for the fact that she was safely in the country with no problem. The van dropped Becca off at a divey little hotel in what looked like a ghetto neighborhood, but Becca didn’t know if this was the norm for Haiti city life or not. She was on the top floor of the three story hotel overlooking a small neighborhood square. Even though it was a scary looking place it was at least a very clean and comfortable room. She didn’t like the fact that the small room was still spinning a bit from the motion of the boat. “This feels like one of those college drank too much days. Yuk,” she thought.

  As she unpacked her bag she reached into one of her socks. She found a wad of money that she had saved from her other missions. It was left over spending money she was given that she never used. She secretly kept the money, figuring that it would come in handy someday. Becca knew that someday was now. She had a plan, but she needed the extra money.

  Becca noticed that an AmeriShares clinic was catty-corner from the hotel. The building had bars on all the windows. She thought that probably wasn’t a good thing. As she looked around the neighborhood, she thought “This has to be the poorest looking area I have ever seen.” The streets were bustling with activity. Many of the buildings were built like tin shacks and some appeared to be on their last legs. She also now recognized the square below the hotel window. It was the place on her map that would be host to the political rally site of her target, a local catholic priest. Evidently the man was a fiery populist priest whom the local poor people supported. When reading the background information on the man, Becca didn’t really find any atrocities that might make killing this man more appealing. The CIA, however was on the side of the local military and felt like there would be too much chaos if this particular priest became president of Haiti. Becca still didn’t feel right about this whole mission. She found herself wondering about Lee Harvey Oswald . “I wonder if that poor guy worked in the same program that I work in now? Wouldn’t surprize me at all,” she thought as she opened the case that held her rifle.